BAFF, IL-4 and IL-21 separably program germinal center-like phenotype acquisition, BCL6 expression, proliferation and survival of CD40L-activated B cells in vitro.

A B cell culture system using BAFF, IL-4 and IL-21 was recently developed that generates B cells with phenotypic and functional characteristics of in vivo-generated germinal center (GC) B cells. Here, we observe discrete influences of each exogenous signal on the expansion and differentiation of a CD40L-activated B cell pool. IL-4 was expressly necessary, but neither BAFF nor IL-21 was required for B cell acquisition of the GC B cell phenotypes of peanut agglutinin binding and loss of CD38 and IgD expression. Both IL-4 and IL-21 enhanced cell cycle entry upon initial activation dose-dependently, and did so additively. Importantly, while both cytokines acted in concert to increase overall BCL6 expression amounts, IL-21 exposure uniquely caused a small proportion of cells to attain a higher level of BCL6 expression, reminiscent of in vivo GC B cells. In contrast, BAFF supported survival of a fraction of memory-like B cells in extended cultures after removal of surrogate T cell-help signals. Thus, by separably programming proliferation, survival and GC phenotype acquisition, IL-4, BAFF and IL-21 drive distinct components of activated B cell fate.